Member Story:
“Daughter Monitors and Controls Diabetes Before Leaving for College”

A member contacted PinnacleCare because her daughter’s primary care physician had just found her to have elevated blood sugar levels, possibly due to one of the medications she was taking. However, since this is the only medication that had been helpful in treating her prior health condition, the family and member were reluctant to discontinue it’s use.

The family was grateful for the efficient and seamless support from PinnacleCare. They are very pleased that their daughter can now leave for college looking forward to being a busy student with her many sorority activities, rather than worrying about her blood sugar levels.

The PinnacleCare team agreed that the family should not be hasty in taking their daughter off the medication, and advised the mother to have her daughter seen by an endocrinologist for a diabetes evaluation. After that, there could be a reassessment of her need for the medication in question.

PinnacleCare immediately found an endocrinologist who was able to schedule an appointment for the daughter within four business days. Relevant medical records were forwarded to ensure that everything was set for the evaluation.

The daughter’s appointment went very well and the family had great things to report about the physician. The young member was diagnosed with a latent form of autoimmune diabetes and provided with a diabetes test kit by her physician to help her monitor her condition. Since her initial diagnosis, the daughter has changed her dietary choices with the assistance of a nutritionist recommended by PinnacleCare, is exercising regularly, and maintaining acceptable blood sugar readings.

The family was grateful for the efficient and seamless support from PinnacleCare. They are very pleased that their daughter can now leave for college looking forward to being a busy student with her many sorority activities, rather than worrying about her blood sugar levels.

The firm is now allowing its entire adviser force to refer clients to PinnacleCare, which also created a new elder-care assessment… Many advisers feel that dealing with elder-care issues isn’t their responsibility. But as clients age, “you’re going to be doing this whether you want to or not.”

In a time of serious illness, these advocates can help research new treatments that doctors may not know a lot about, cut through the medical bureaucracy, and perhaps help frame medical decisions more objectively than stressed out patients and their family members. Advocates are not just there to help you heal but also to keep you healthy.

— Anne Tergesen, “Your Guide to the Medical Maze”

Consider hiring a private patient advocate… It could help get you the care you need.

— Judy Foreman, “For when a doctor and a nurse just aren’t enough”

“Pinnacle provided me with a name and with research that said, ‘here’s how other people are going it, and here’s who has the most long-term survivors, and here are their stories.’ What I got from that was hope. Not a bad return on investment.”

— Gregory Taggart, “Deluxe Health Care”

“I always thought the medical staff would return phone calls, answer questions and discuss treatment plans and options. I was wrong.” So the family turned to…PinnacleCare for help. Within one day, a doctor on the company’s staff reviewed her mother’s medical records and set up a conference call with a neurosurgeon from Johns Hopkins and a neurologist from Rush University Medical Center, who agreed to take on the case. “We needed someone on our side.”